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Crypto wallet and blockchain tech startup imToken raises $30 million Series B to safeguard blockchain and token-based assets
imToken, a Singapore-based tech startup and the world’s largest Ethereum digital asset wallet, announced it has closed a US$30 million Series B funding to accelerate the development of its next iteration. The round was led by Qiming Venture Partners, with participation from its lead Series A investor IDG Capital and new investors including Breyer Capital, and others. imToken is a provider of a decentralized digital wallet used to manage and safeguard a wide range of blockchain- and token-based assets.
imToken was founded in 2016 by Ben He to address a lack of user-friendly entry points to the cryptocurrency space. In line with its belief that digital asset wallets are the most secure and cost-effective way of banking, the company set out to make the world of decentralized digital wallets more easily and securely accessible by creating a wallet platform with unprecedented ease-of-use and industry-leading platform security.
In the span of 5 years, imToken has expanded our outreach to millions of users from more than 200 countries, becoming the world’s largest Ethereum wallet. Now, imToken’s digital wallet platform is a key pillar of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, enabling its 12 million users from over 150 countries to manage and safeguard a wide range of blockchain- and token-based assets, identities and data. Over US$50 billion in assets are currently placed on the platform and the total transaction value via imToken has exceeded US$500 billion.
With this investment, imToken intends to accelerate the development of its next iteration, imToken 3.0, and achieve its long-term goal of making blockchain accessible to the masses. With imToken 3.0, imToken intends to fundamentally improve the way users interact with blockchain services by implementing keyless accounts, account recovery and other features that enable users to easily and securely access a variety of blockchain networks and applications.
Beyond its free non-custodial wallets, imToken also plans to provide secure and convenient access to a suite of decentralized finance (DeFi) services in imToken 3.0, a leap to the centralized digital wallet. The company’s goal is to further lower the entry barrier for cryptocurrency newcomers by building up a robust ecosystem of interconnected products that makes a wide range of blockchain services more available and easier to manage.
In addition, the newly raised capital will be invested in building a research arm called imToken Labs, with the goal of further exploring and applying advanced blockchain technology in imToken’s products and services. It will also be used to bolster imToken’s recruiting efforts in the areas of research, marketing and operations, and to establish more offices globally.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with such a savvy and experienced group of investors from both inside and outside of the crypto space,” said He Bin, CEO and Founder of imToken. “Beginning with our inception five years ago, we recognized the huge potential of blockchain technology – as well as the challenges faced by the industry with regards to a need for improved user experiences, secure key management and scalable network. With our investors’ support, we are well-positioned to tackle these challenges and grow our platform beyond our wallets – bringing our trademark focus on ease-of-use to a wide range of decentralized services with a goal of serving over 100 million users in the next five years.”
imToken has taken major strides to grow the broader decentralized ecosystem, including establishing imToken Ventures in 2018 to invest in companies connected to the digital wallet ecosystem. One of imToken’s incubated projects, a decentralized exchange called Tokenlon, has now facilitated over US$10 billion in total trading volume. imKey, imToken’s hardware wallet, enables its users to easily manage popular digital assets on their mobile devices via Bluetooth.
“imToken has already established itself as one of the most important players in the digital asset custody space,” said Jim Breyer, Founder and CEO of Breyer Capital. “Now, we believe there is a significant opportunity for the company to leverage its powerful brand equity and strong user network to expand into new, adjacent markets—and we are excited to help them realize that opportunity.”


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The printing press manufacturer is planning massive job cuts. Locations could also be closed. It should be negotiated with employee representatives at short notice.
Printing press manufacturer Heidelberger Druck is planning massive job cuts and is also considering closing locations. It was “a sustainable adjustment of production and structural costs planned, which includes job cuts of a total of up to 2000 jobs worldwide and can also lead to plant closures,” said the company on Tuesday evening. According to this, “short-term negotiations with the employee representatives on the concrete and as socially acceptable design as possible” should be started.
For the implementation of the measures, the company expects one-time expenses of around 300 million euros. “These expenses, as well as the effects of the increasingly worsening economic environment worldwide due to the corona pandemic, will have a greater impact on sales and earnings in the current financial year than previously expected.” 5 billion euros.
The majority of the measures to realign the company are to be initiated in the 2020/2021 financial year.
More on MSN

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Dear Silverspoon fans,
The Gala Awards Dinner is nearly sold out. Exclusive tickets for the 2016 Silverspoon Finalists will be released after PwC announces the Finalist list on Oct. 18.
When we do sell out of publicly available tickets, we will create a short waiting list for potential seats that may open up from our reserve seating list.
We kindly ask for your patience and understanding!


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BP Chargemaster installs first 150kW charger site
BP Chargemaster has installed its first 150kW ultra-fast charging site at BP Cranford, which is the the first of 400 ultra-fast chargers to be installed on BP forecourts.
Cranford was chosen as the first location as it is just outside central London and close to London Heathrow airport as well as key motorway routes.
BP Chargemaster hosted a preview event, inviting Polar customers to be the first in the UK to use the new chargers. The event also gave key representatives of BP Chargemaster and BP the opportunity to meet and discuss with customers about our products and the future of EV charging.
Two of our customers who attended the preview event brought along their Tesla Model 3 to try out charging at full capacity for the first time.
The new units will have CCS and CHAdeMO charging available, and will be accessible through Polar Plus membership and Polar Instant pay as you go, as well as Contactless in the near future.


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So. Much. Awesome. — New Music Tuesday!
Why so much awesome?
Because 3 or 4 of my FAVES have recently announced new albums! Coming out this year!
I recently found out that the gorgeous Hannah Georgas will be releasing her highly anticipated second LP in October. The album is a follow up to the Juno/Polaris/WCMA nominated This Is Good, which she released way back in 2010. This was one of my Top 10 Things That Will Make or Break 2012 for anyone who was counting.. Looks like this will help make my year indeed!
The always-interesting The Antlers released a new tune yesterday that will be on their upcoming EP Undersea will be available in physical stores and imaginary stores alike on July 24th.
I had almost given up on ever hearing a new Matt Mays record. When it was announced a few years back that he had parted ways with El Torpedo, my heart broke a little more. 2008′s Terminal Romance saw Matt Mays + El Torpedo at their most creative (in my opinion) and unarguably at their most hard-rocking. It was also my introduction to his straight ahead rock’n'roll genius, which beckoned for more Mays, which resulted in the purchase of a few more of his albums which I proceeded to eat for dinner.
A lengthy 4 years later, there’s finally some rumbling in the Matt Mays camp. In fact, there’s a new album announcement AND a new tune! The tune is called Take It On Faith and the forthcoming album is called Coyote. I couldn’t be more excited, you guys.
Alright. Now I just found out yesterday evening that Band of Horses are also going to be releasing a new album in September! Only like, 2-ish months from now. This is some phenom news as the BOH are one of my faves and I’m curious to see which way they go after the under appreciated Infinite Arms release back in 2010.
Lastly, it came to my attention this morning that the folk rock genius Avett Brothers are finally releasing a follow-up to their hugely successful 2009 release I and Love and You. The new album will be called The Carpenter and is ALSO coming out in September, on the 11th, to be exact. That is going to be one effing crazy good month.
Check out Seth and Scott Avett’s new tune Live and Die on NPR’s Summer Music Sampler along with a whole whack of other awesome upcoming releases HERE.
Wow. This all makes up for the disappointing Shins record.. but I’ll save that rant for another day.


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The first-ever Instagramers Gallery has opened its doors in Miami, in a move the social media site hopes to repeat in strategic cities all over the world.
Located in the city's art district, the site displays photography in Instagram format in addition to hosting exhibits, seminars and forums.
The concept is part of a three-step initiative from Instagramers Blog founder Phil González and social innovations expert Jorge Martínez that includes Instagramers Gallery, InstagramersGallery.com and two Instagramers Prizes.
"Launching Instagramers Gallery seemed a natural progression after the success of the online portal," said González.
"Our vision and ultimate goal is to allow anyone and everyone the chance of being a featured artist -- this is the power of social media and we are looking forward to seeing how it is received by the public."
The second phase of the venture is InstagramersGallery.com, a virtual gallery which allows users to upload one photo per day.
Images posted will be entered into the daily Photo-Day Prize, a contest in which the online gallery audience will vote for a winner, who will receive $1,000.
Finalists from the Photo-Day Prize competitions will be judged against one another in the Instagramers Photo Prize, launching on December 16.
A $100,000 prize will be awarded to the winner, chosen by well-known figures in the world of art, photography and new technologies.
Instagramers Gallery is located at 2324 North Miami Avenue.
For more information see instagramersgallery.com


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Posted Mon Apr 5, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT by Tom Landy
A collection of twenty-six animated short films will get the high-definition treatment this June.
In an early announcement to retailers, Image Entertainment is working on 'Animation Express' for Blu-ray on June 8.
Specs haven't been revealed, but the Blu-ray will contain 13 bonus shorts unavailable anywhere else!
Suggested list price for the Blu-ray has been set at $29.98.
You can find the latest specs for 'Animation Express' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under June 8.
The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.


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Lenovo K8 Plus with MediaTek Helio P25 SoC launched, priced at ₹10,999
Lenovo launched two phones on Wednesday. Lenovo K8 and Lenovo K8Plus are available in Venom Black, Fine Gold colour options.
Lenovo on Wednesday launched two new smartphones, Lenovo K8 and Lenovo K8 Plus, in India. Priced at ₹10,999, the Lenovo K8 Plus will be available from 12 noon on September 7 exclusively via Flipkart. Details of the availability and price of K8 will be announced at a later date, Lenovo said.
Like the Lenovo K8 Note, which launched in India last month, the K8 Plus also comes with stock Android (version 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box) and "assured updates to Android Oreo." The phone is focused on multimedia enthusiasts with features such as Dolby Atmos and TheaterMax Technology.
Lenovo K8 Plus Specifications
The smartphone comes with a 5.2-inch full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. It runs on MediaTek Helio P25 64-bit octa-core processor clocked at 2.6GHz. The phone has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. It supports expandable storage up to 128GB via a microSD card. The company is also going to launch another variant of the Lenovo K8 Plus featuring 4GB RAM with 64GB of storage.
The highlight of the smartphone is dual-rear camera. The setup consists of one 13-megapixel sensor and one 5-megapixel sensor. The secondary sensor helps deliver Bokeh effect (DSLR-like depth of field). It also has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with wide-angle lens.
For connectivity, the Lenovo K8 Plus supports dual-SIM (non-hybrid slot), VoLTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. It is powered by a 4,000mAh battery which the company claims delivers 32 hours of 4G talk time and 456 hours of standby time. It has a fingerprint sensor on the back.
Lenovo K8 Specifications
As the name suggests, the Lenovo K8 is a stripped-down version of the K8 Plus. It has a 5.2-inch HD display. It also runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box. The phone is powered by MediaTek P20 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. It comes with 32GB built-in storage and expandable storage up to 128GB via a microSD card.
Follow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews , also keep up with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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Billionaire Richard Branson says he forgave an employee who stole from his company because second chances can make better workers
Richard Branson released a Masterclass on disruptive entrepreneurship today, and told Insider listening to staff can be more crucial than a pay rise.
I went aboard Virgin Voyages' first cruise ship, and it made me want to book a cruise for the first time ever
The adults-only Scarlet Lady will begin sailing fully vaccinated from Miami to the Caribbeans this October. Take a look inside the new cruise ship.
Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic is planning a London stock-market debut as it bets on pent-up demand for air travel, report says
Airline executives have been in talks with potential investors, and are likely to announce plans for a public offering as soon as the fall.
Richard Branson is renting out his private estate on his second Caribbean island for the first time at $25,000 a night. Take a look inside the 3-villa compound.
The 125-acre Moskito Island, which Branson bought in 2007, is just 2.5 miles from his other private island, Necker Island.
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman shares the lesson Richard Branson taught him about leading a company — and why he thinks more companies need to adopt it
From 2001 to 2009, Branson served as a mentor to Schulman, who was CEO of Virgin Mobile at the time.
The English manor where billionaire Richard Branson grew up just hit the market for $5 million — take a look inside
Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group founder, dreamed up his first business in a home outside London that his parents had bought from a viscountess.
Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit has spent $1 billion trying to reach to space — while a small New Zealand startup got to orbit for a fraction of that
CEO Peter Beck says Rocket Lab has spent about $180 million to develop the Electron launch vehicle, build spaceports, and plan a mission to Venus.
Billionaire Richard Branson to raise $400 million for new SPAC as it looks to expand its Virgin empire
VG Acquisition Corp, the new blank check company, plans to sell 40 million units at a price of $10 per unit.
Richard Branson cashed in $41 million of Virgin Galactic stock last week to lift his ailing travel businesses
The sales come after Virgin Group announced plans to sell as many as 25 million Virgin Galactic shares to help ventures hit hard by the coronavirus.
Virgin Galactic is looking for 2 pilots to fly its spaceflight missions. Here's what it takes to be the next closest thing to an astronaut.
Virgin Galactic pilots will have the unique opportunity of flying, essentially, into space, a job formerly reserved only for NASA astronauts.
A former Virgin president explains why Richard Branson would insist on everyone standing during big meetings
Richard Branson is not alone in despising big meetings. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos also have rules about large groups of colleagues congregating.
A startlingly honest story about Richard Branson not knowing what 'gross margin' meant shows his qualities as a leader, says former coworker
Huntley Ritter, a tech entrepreneur and former colleague of Richard Branson, says the Virgin Group founder happily admitted his shortcomings.
This LA investment firm backed Ring before Amazon acquired it, and it just made several new hires to change early-stage tech startups
M13 was founded in 2017 to prove that "venture capital needs to evolve," according to the founders, Carter and Courtney Reum, who are twin brothers.
How the founder of a fintech startup got backed by Richard Branson after pitching him while kiteboarding
Karl Jacob pitched his startup to Richard Branson while kiteboarding and walked away with the billionaire’s backing for its Series A in 2018.
Virgin Voyages CEO explains what makes Richard Branson's new adults-only cruise line stand out from the crowd
Richard Branson's Virgin Voyages will set sail in April 2020 from its home port in Miami to Havana, Cuba.
Richard Branson reveals what it was like to ride out one of history's most destructive hurricanes in his wine cellar
Richard Branson said riding out Hurricane Irma in his wine cellar was like "14 hours of a screaming train going by."
Richard Branson reveals how his new adults-only cruise line, Virgin Voyages, will turn the cruise industry upside down
Richard Branson's adults-only cruise line, Virgin Voyages, is officially open for business. Tickets for its maiden voyage in April 2020 are on sale.
Take a look inside the 'Scarlet Lady,' Virgin's first adults-only cruise ship sailing to the Caribbean in 2020
Virgin Group just launched a cruise line, Virgin Voyages, that will set sail in 2020. The trips will be for passengers 18 and over.
Richard Branson and Virgin Group are cutting ties with the Saudi Government after the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi
Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Group are severing their business relationships with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Branson announced that Virgin Galatic and Virgin Orbit will suspend its business dealings with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
I flew Virgin Atlantic from London to New York to see if Richard Branson's airline is still one of the world's best — here's the verdict
Virgin Atlantic is the crown jewel of Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson's aviation portfolio. Even though 80% of the airline's shares are owned by Air France-KLM and Delta, it's still quintessentially Sir Richard.


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Posts Tagged ‘apu’
0 CommentsPosted by Anton Shilov on April 18, 2014 under APU, CPU, Server
Advanced Micro Devices this week demonstrated its next-generation AMD Opteron X-series accelerated processing unit code-named “Berlin” running Fedora Linux operating system. The new APU is project... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Luke Hill on April 14, 2014 under APU, CPU, Highlights-new
The gaming and enthusiast audiences love their big, quick, expensive powerhouse machines - there's no denying that. But the reality is that many users - about 38% of the market, in fact - in a wid... more.
1 CommentsPosted by Anton Shilov on April 2, 2014 under APU, Console, CPU, Graphics, PC
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday announced plans to slightly boost its purchase commitment from GlobalFoundries by around $50 million this year compared to last year. As part of the agreement, the ... more.
1 CommentsPosted by Anton Shilov on March 26, 2014 under APU, CPU
From time to time large PC makers unveil hardware that chip companies like Advanced Micro Devices would rather not discuss with the general public. Recently it turned out that some of the desktops sol... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Anton Shilov on March 17, 2014 under APU, CPU, Gaming Rig, Graphics, PC, SSD Drives
Advanced Micro Devices and OCZ Storage Solutions, a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp., on Monday said that they would showcase personal computers powered by AMD hardware and Vector 150 series solid state dr... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Anton Shilov on January 29, 2014 under APU, Gaming Rig, Graphics, PC
Gigabyte Technology has introduced its first ultra-small form-factor personal computer designed specifically for gaming. The novelty boasts with a quad-core accelerated processing unit (APU), discrete... more.
3 CommentsPosted by Henry Butt on November 29, 2013 under APU, Component, Highlights 2
Today we are going to take a look at the latest product in AMD's APU line-up, the Vision A10-6790K. This is positioned just below the A10-6800K that we looked at a few months back and offers users a... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Jon Martindale on November 13, 2013 under CPU, Graphics
AMD has announced a new initiative to bridge the gap between the traditional high powered, productivity focused "old Windows ecosystem," and the high end displays and thin, light and easy to use Andro... more.
1 CommentsPosted by Jon Martindale on August 21, 2013 under Motherboard
Gigabyte has today announced a new series of motherboards known as the A88X line, all of which will support both current-generation FM2 Trinity and Richland AMD APUs and the newer FM2+ form factor Kev... more.
6 CommentsPosted by Henry Butt on June 13, 2013 under CPU, Highlights
Today we are going to take a look at the latest ‘Richland’ APUs from AMD which have been refreshed with ‘Piledriver’ cores to enhance performance. There are numerous other improvements inc... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Harrison on April 30, 2013 under Event
While the advent of Quad HD TV might provide one of the biggest challenges to console gaming in the coming years, there seems little doubt that having a single code platform might be one of the bigges... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Jules on March 4, 2013 under APU, Channel, CPU, Event, Graphics, Interviews
The days of building a slightly better mouse trap and waiting for the customers to bang down your door are gone. These days, marketing is everything. Ahead of CeBIT 2013 and the showcasing of its late... more.
6 CommentsPosted by Henry Butt on February 25, 2013 under Highlights, Motherboard
Today we are going to look at the Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H motherboard which supports AMD's latest Trinity APUs and occupies a Micro-ATX form factor. We will also be looking briefly at the performan... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Harrison on January 29, 2013 under APU, Channel
The future is embedded - or so we're being told. From AMD to Intel, the word on the street is that everything should have some kind of computer in it - and all of them should be connected. If the enti... more.
2 CommentsPosted by Henry Butt on November 26, 2012 under Cooling, Highlights V
Today we are going to look at one of Arctic's low profile CPU coolers ... the Alpine 64 Plus, which is designed to be used exclusively with AMD processors. This makes it ideal for use in small for... more.
2 CommentsPosted by Jules on November 22, 2012 under Apple, APU, Base Unit, General Purpose PC, HTPC
As of 6am this morning, the options available to technology lovers who want oodles of power but no noise and a stylish little package, just got a whole lot more attractive with the launch of Sapphire'... more.
4 CommentsPosted by Benjamin on September 27, 2012 under APU, Channel, Interviews
From the point where Intel launched Conroe, AMD has had some serious challenges in the desktop processor market. Now, speaking as the head of the desktop business team on the eve of the launch of Trin... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Jules on September 18, 2012 under APU, Channel, CPU, Graphics
Over time, companies gain and lose people. In the natural sequence of events, when someone leaves, they are often replaced immediately by someone else with similar experience/salary demands. Right now... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Henry Butt on July 24, 2012 under Console
Ten years ago, Bob Feldstein was busy taking the lead on a deal with Microsoft that would lead to the Xbox 360 console being launched with ATi technology inside. Now he's made the move across to nVidi... more.
7 CommentsPosted by Henry Butt on July 9, 2012 under Base Unit, Highlights, PC
The Zoostorm brand may not be instantly recognisable to many but they have been around now for a few years. They are a UK based systems integrator who build budget friendly computers predominantly... more.
1 CommentsPosted by Jules on May 17, 2012 under APU, Channel
We all have a friend that looks like they have just moved in. You know that they have been in that house/flat for many years, but they still look like they are in the process of arriving. We get this ... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Jules on April 25, 2012 under APU, Channel
While the big blue juggernaut continues to plow forward with yet another full range of high-end processors, AMD is looking to regroup around a different manufacturing model. With rumour set to become ... more.
1 CommentsPosted by Stephen Dougherty on March 15, 2012 under APU, Channel, Component
Another value oriented Socket FM1 APU from AMD will hit the retail channel soon after having been confined to OEMs since its inception in January. The A4-3420 uses two x86-64 cores clocked at 2.8GH... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Stephen Dougherty on March 8, 2012 under APU, Channel, Component, Motherboard
Through discussions with sources in the motherboard industry at CeBIT it's been determined that AMD's upcoming A10 and A8 "Trinity" APUs will be launched near the end of Q2 and into Q3 (May - June), w... more.
0 CommentsPosted by Stephen Dougherty on February 3, 2012 under APU, Component, CPU, Graphics
Today we get a clearer picture of AMD's hardware plans heading well into 2013 thanks to the company presenting an updated client roadmap at its annual Financial Analyst Day yesterday. As we've lear... more.
13 CommentsPosted by Henry Butt on June 30, 2011 under APU, Highlights, Motherboard
A couple of weeks back, AMD released the notebook portion of their Llano platform, dubbed 'Sabine', which we explained in detail over here. This left many people wondering when the desktop varia... more.
1 CommentsPosted by Carl on March 16, 2011 under CPU, Graphics
AMD sent KitGuru an email yesterday highlighting the benefits of the Fusion APU, saying it was an ideal partner for Internet Explorer 9 and the new hardware acceleration features. AMD say: The ... more.
5 CommentsPosted by Carl on January 5, 2011 under Graphics, Motherboard
Sapphire have just announced their first mainboard based on the new Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) architecture, from Sapphire. They have been working closely with AMD to produce this board, which ... more.
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The last several years haven’t been good ones for Taco Bell. There was the E. Coli outbreak in 2006, the salmonella illnesses last year and the accusation that the fast-food chain’s beef is barely beef. (Taco Bell strongly denies this.) So, understandably, the restaurant is gearing up for a total makeover, complete with a new slogan, breakfast foods, Chipotle-style options and a taco made with Doritos chips.
Starting March 8, Taco Bell will begin a national rollout of a much-hyped new menu item: the Doritos Locos Taco. It’s aptly named, because instead of just your everyday tortilla shell, the Locos Taco has a shell made of cheesy Doritos chips and even has a special cardboard holster so you don’t get that fluorescent orange Doritos cheese dust all over your hands. The taco is two years in the making, and many people in the industry are expecting it to be an enormous hit. “Taco Bell could have a McDonald’s-like year,” an industry analyst told USA Today.
The chipmaker is also betting that the new product will boost its own brand. The chief marketing officer of Frito-Lay, which makes Doritos, told USA Today that after consumers eat a Doritos Locos Taco, a couple hours later, “you’re going to want a bag of Doritos.”
Along with the new taco, Taco Bell is attempting something it’s tried and failed at three separate times: breakfast. But this go-around, the Mexican food chain says it has learned from its mistakes and has discovered that most Americans just don’t want spicy items first thing in the morning. Instead, we generally want to eat more traditional foods like eggs and sausage. So this time, Taco Bell is going to use more of those types of breakfast foods and stuff them inside burritos. Cinnamon buns, made with baked-good chain Cinnabon, are also being served.
What’s more, Taco Bell has taken notice of Chipotle’s success over the few years and believes that it can start competing with the more upscale Mexican restaurant. Taco Bell has begun testing a “Cantina Bell” line of higher-end foods with natural ingredients like all-white-meat chicken in cilantro dressing and grilled corn salsa, and it’s offering these items for few dollars less than Chipotle.
Considering the sweeping changes the 5,600-unit chain is undertaking, it will also soon roll out a new slogan. Say goodbye to “Think outside the bun” and welcome in “Live Mas.” Mas is Spanish for “more,” and it evokes the rather popular “Yo quiero Taco Bell” that the fast-food chain successfully used along with their recognizable talking Chihuahua. It’s a move to make customers think of Taco Bell as a lifestyle choice rather than just a place to pick up a cheap taco. Taco Bell is hoping that the new slogan, as well as its series of bold moves, will translate into customers visiting and spending mas as well.


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Shop workers have been verbally abused, threatened or assaulted every week during the coronavirus crisis, according to “shocking” new research.
A survey by the Usdaw union suggested that incidents have doubled in the past month, up from once a fortnight last year.
One in six of the almost 5,000 workers surveyed said they had been abused on every shift.
Almost two out of three of those questioned said they had suffered verbal abuse and around a third had been threatened by a customer.
The union said 4% had been assaulted, which, it estimated, amounts to more than 3,500 every day when averaged across all retail workers.
Usdaw called for urgent action to tackle the growing problem.
General secretary Paddy Lillis said: “We are shocked that violence, threats and abuse have doubled during this national emergency.
“At a time when we should all be working together to get through this crisis, it is a national disgrace that people working to keep food on the shelves for their local communities are being abused and assaulted.
“Urgent action is required. Our message is clear: abuse is not part of the job.
“Life on the front line of retail is normally pretty tough for many shop workers and has become much worse during the coronavirus emergency.
“Shop workers are on the front line of feeding the country, providing an essential service in very difficult circumstances, working long hours in busy stores, facing abuse from customers and of course concerned they may contract Covid-19.
“The safety of our members is absolutely paramount, but they tell us that some of the shopping public are resisting social distancing measures in stores and can become abusive when asked to queue and maintain a two-metre gap.
“We want the Government to legislate for stiffer penalties for those who assault workers, a simple stand-alone offence that is widely recognised and understood by the public, police, CPS, the judiciary and, most importantly, criminals.
Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “Shop workers are at the very front line of the coronavirus emergency. They are doing incredible work, often putting themselves at risk, in order to provide vital supplies and keep people fed.
“It is absolutely appalling that, in carrying out their vital roles, workers are facing this abuse, when they should be receiving heartfelt thanks from the people they are serving.”
The union said some of the comments from workers included:
“I had never cried in work until the first week of the lockdown. I received constant abuse from nearly every customer during one shift when the rules were changed so that we couldn’t accept returns. I finally broke when one woman refused to leave the store and insulted me and berated me for not doing the return.”
“My job has become emotionally draining and it is really starting to affect my mental health.”
“Verbal and physical abuse from customers, it’s not nice, we are only trying to enforce social distancing but customers are using the trip to the shops as a day out and putting the staff at risk, then we return to our families in fear and panic because of the small-minded stupidity.”
“The worst abuse I have experienced has occurred whilst working on the till. Some customers have been extremely abusive when they have been asked to pay by card instead of cash.”
“Customers are getting worse and are refusing to listen to store staff as this situation continues. Whole families are shopping and others are meeting at the store and using it as a place to gather.”
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Michelin unveils new gourmet lifestyle web portal in Singapore
SINGAPORE — Michelin has unveiled an all-new English-language gourmet lifestyle web portal, ahead of the release of the Michelin Guide Singapore later this year.
The website, http://guide.michelin.sg, will offer daily articles on restaurant trends, personality interviews with renowned chefs and food experts, as well as news related to the Michelin guide. In addition, the guide will feature recipes, cooking tips and opinion pieces shared by Michelin-starred chefs.
The Michelin Guide, which has been published by French tyre company Michelin since 1900, will arrive here later this year, making Singapore the first country in South-east Asia to be included in the guide’s coverage of over 26 countries.
In the meantime, the Chope Group has announced that it will be providing online reservation services for Singapore’s Michelin-starred restaurants on the website.
“Beyond serving as a trusted restaurant guide, the Michelin guide Singapore website will make the Michelin dining experience more accessible through practical and informative daily content that will help connect local and visiting diners with their favourite Michelin-starred restaurants and chefs,” said Chan Hock Sen, vice president of Michelin Asia Pacific “The beauty of a digital platform is that everything is highly interactive, and we hope to tap on this to foster an online community of food lovers.”
“For Singaporeans who may not be all that familiar with the history of the Michelin guide and what it stands for, we will carry a series of articles that demystify the Michelin guide brand and give insight on how the world’s most revered restaurant reviews are conducted, in order to dispel any preconceived notions people may have about the guide being only about a certain genre of restaurants or only for a certain group of diners,” said Debbie Yong, digital editor at Michelin Guide Singapore. “At our core, we are all bound by our love of food, it’s a love that’s democratic and should know no boundaries — and that’s something definitely worth celebrating.”


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Review: Midwest Wine & Beer Conference
Despite the difficult weather, hundreds of winemakers, craft brewers and vendors turned out for the Midwest Grape & Wine + Craft Brew Conference in St. Charles, Missouri, February 4-7. The event was the first time organizers, Vineyard & Winery Management, Inc., had brought the wine and craft beer industries together. At the Tour de Brew, a Wednesday evening beer tasting event, Midwest Wine Press spoke with winemakers and vendors and found that the conference’s goal of fostering a Midwest beverage culture including wine, beer and cider was going down well. Vineyard & Winery Management’s CEO, Robert Merletti, believes these beverages have a lot in common including the types of customers, who are seeking something other than the same old Chardonnay.
Ron Dotson, winemaker for Summerside Winery and Meadery in Vinita, Oklahoma sees lots of synergy between beer making and winemaking. ‘I’m actually a beer drinker not a wine drinker, but I make wine,” he said. ‘As a matter of fact we tried at one time to make a beer at the winery. It was called Braggart, which they thought was a mead, but it was actually an ale and we didn’t have a license to make it because it’s considered a beer!” Dotson said his winery is considering making beer again, this time deliberately and with all the correct licenses!
Summerside’s five acres of vines includes three acres of Norton and two acres of Vignoles. However, their best-selling wine – and the one Dotson is most proud of – is a blackberry fruit wine that won a gold medal at last year’s Watonga Cheese festival’s wine competition. At the St Charles conference, Dotson particularly liked a session that taught him about a new additive that can fix the tartrates without having to cold stabilize the wine.
Cory Bomgaars, Vice-President of Winery Operations at Les Bourgeois Vineyards believes the synergy between beverage makers goes further: ‘I don’t really think that the craft distiller is that far from the craft winery or the craft brewer.” Les Bourgeois leases space at their winery to Broadway Brewery and is also involved in a distillery project.
‘I like the idea of having three different companies of whatever weird renegade alcohol producers that are hanging out and collaborating and trying to make the best regional products we can,” Bomgaars said.
Bomgaars was looking forward to a conference session on cold stabilization using mannoproteins. So far, he’d especially enjoyed a talk by Stone Hill Winery’s Sean Turnbull about dealing with herbaceousness and acid additions.
He also reported progress on an important issue that was the subject of a panel discussion at the conference: getting Midwest wines onto the wine lists of more restaurants. On a visit with his distributor to restaurants in Jefferson City, Columbia and Lake of the Ozarks, 11 out of 12 restaurants agreed to place at least one Les Bourgeois wine. Bomgaars said this wouldn’t have happened five years ago. ‘There’s a mindset change about regional wine going on, which is the first step we need to overcome,” he said.
See related story: Regional Wine Taster Publishes “Wine Lists of Shame: KC Restaurants that Serve No Local Wine”
Kerri Ernst, manager for St. Louis Wine & Beermaking, sells wine and beer making equipment, predominantly to the home wine or beer maker. Since her company opened for business five years ago, Ernst said she’s starting to see a lot more home winemakers experiment with making beer and visa-versa. She said it makes sense because they both require similar equipment. ‘Take carboys for example, it’s a versatile five or six gallon container. Your fermenting buckets, hydrometers, thermometers, and a lot of the little stuff is the same for making beer and wine at home.”
Glenn Caster, sales engineer for ARS/Swash Sanitizing Equipment, based in California, sells equipment to both the wine and beer industries. ‘What is interesting is the vendor base – with the exception of the grapes and the hops – there’s a tremendous crossover,” he said. ‘Our prime product is steam,” said Caster. ‘We have portable steam electric steam generators, that are pretty much green because there are no chemicals.” He explained that steam is the most effective way to deliver heat which denatures the sort of bacteria that hang around bottling lines, barrels, tanks, floors, walls and — his favorite – floor drains.
‘If you keep everything clean enough the wine makes itself, we’ve just got to stay out of the way,” said Caster, who is also a partner in Highlands Napa Valley Wines. ARS also sells humidification systems that can help improve winemaking, for example, by slowing evaporation rates and so reducing the need to top up barrels that loose wine to evaporation.
Based on what he’s observing in the Californian wine industry, Caster – like Bomgaars – suggests further synergies between different beverage industries are coming soon to the Midwest: ‘a lot of the [Californian] wineries are buying stills now.”


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It would appear that Wi-Fi only models of Apple’s latest iPad have already sold out.
Listings for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions of the new device all state that the dispatch time for each currently stands at one week.
Those customers who purchased the newest addition to the iPad family early can still expect to receive their device once it hits shelves this Friday.
After announcing the fourth-generation device last week, Apple began taking pre-orders on Friday.
The only changes made to the new device include a new A6X processor, which promises to offer double the power of the previous generation iPad, along with Apple’s new dock connection, which has become the standard across the firms newest product ranges.
Similarly, Apple has revealed that the initial supply for iPad Mini device – which was also announced last week – has ran out, stating that potential customers face a two week delay.
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Don't know what to do with that cracked kiddie pool? Well, starting Wednesday, you can recycle it in Montgomery County.
The county is now accepting bulky, rigid plastics at its Shady Grove Transfer Station and Processing Facility.
Officials say the plastic items should be empty and free of any loose soil or dirt. Among the items that can now be recycled are:
- Playhouses and swimming pools
- Five gallon buckets and larger
- Laundry baskets
- Pet carriers
- Clothes hangers
- Traffic signs
- Automotive parts
- Storage containers
Items that once contained pesticides, motor oil or chemicals will not be accepted.
Recyclables can be dropped off at the Shady Grove Transfer Station and Processing Facility, located at 16101 Frederick Road in Derwood, Md., Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.


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Samsung is planning to launch a phone with three-sided display
A report published by Bloomberg collected statements of “two people familiar with the plans of the South Korean “. The new terminal would use an updated version of the technology ‘Youm’.
Samsung Electronics would be developing a smartphone with a three-sided screen so that the user can check your notifications from different angles it would not be necessary to place the terminal in one direction.
“Two people familiar with the plans of South Korea” revealed to Bloomberg that the screen “wrap the edges” of the smartphone, which could reach the market in the second half of 2014 under the line or Galaxy Note. It has not been ruled out, however, that the team could mark the beginning of a new family of phones.
The report notes that the new commitment of Samsung incorporate an improved version of the technology ‘Youm’. In fact, during the Consumer Electronics Show ( CES ), the South Korean manufacturer introduced its advances in the field of flexible displays when was the aforementioned technology.
At that time, the vice president of Samsung’s display division, Brian Berkeley, showed off a mobile device including Youm, where a plastic screen stretched sideways.
The sources consulted by Bloomberg indicated that the Galaxy Round , which was launched a few weeks ago, has ‘Flexible Youm’. In the case of the terminal that the company prepares its innovation department, which is projected to make each side of the screen to work independently.
Indeed, recall that the technology has announced days ago that introduced to the market “fully flexible screens” for 2015. Its CEO , Kwon Oh Hyun, has stated that this technology will be integrated in various mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets and wearable.
By mid-2014 and early 2015, the company wants to offer screens that are able to bend and later, in that same year, promises to launch devices with 100% fordable displays. This technology will make it possible for mobile literally can bend ‘style’ of a wallet.
In fact, Apple does not want to be left behind when it comes to displays . The archival South Korea would be developing, meanwhile, iPhones larger, curved screens and pressure sensors, as Bloomberg said more than a week ago.”Samsung battle against Apple to introduce innovative devices while preparing for a slowdown in the segment of high-end smartphones, where Samsung sells about one in three devices,” says the latest report published by that site.


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By Gift Briton
Kisumu County Governor Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o has signed a partnership project worth Kshs. 30 billion (about US$ 250 million) with the United Kingdom investment group- United Green, to boost food and agricultural productivity in the lake region.
Prof. Nyong’o signed the agreement on behalf of Kisumu County 42 Lake ventures Company, an investment entity fully owned by Kisumu County government, noting that “This US$250 Million agriculture and food security investment programme will revolutionize food production and general agriculture in the entire Lake region.”
The multi million project aims at providing high productivity climate-smart farming and agro-industrial facilities, leading to greater financial security, better livelihoods, reliable food supply, creating new markets for farmers in the rural communities in the Lake Victoria Basin Region over the next five years.
Furthermore, the venture is projected to reduce Kenya’s dependence on importing food commodities by approximately US$200 million (about Kshs. 24 bn) annually, thus reducing Kenya’s trade deficit.
Projected to boost the production of high value crops, this project will generate foreign exchange with focus on servicing local consumer and industry demand with consumer value addition done within Kenya including at least 100,000 tonnes (16% of local demand) of locally produced rice products, at least 100,000 bales (160% of current local production) equivalent of cotton products to support the Kenyan textile industry and edible oil such as sunflower and soybean as well as cotton seed, soybean and maize by-products to support the livestock sector.
Prof. Nyong’o appreciated the United Green and British High Commission for partnering with Kisumu County and supporting the venture adding that “This project will also help to accelerate growth in other agricultural sub sector including revival of cotton industry, dairy and fish production.”
He noted that the project incredibly aligns with the county government of Kisumu strategy for revitalization of agriculture in the next five years and with the national governments agricultural sector(ASTGS) 2019-2029 and that it will significantly contribute to all the ASTGS flagships.


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In 1994, when Amazon was launched, its first package consisting of a Physics book was sent via post. Fast forward to 2020; today, drones are being deployed to deliver packages at customer doorsteps.
Folks! The utopian future that was depicted in The Jetson’s Family cartoon is almost upon us. eCommerce is the key driver of the future. Every year, new trends emerge in the eCommerce space at such a giddying space that it is natural to feel missed out.
Even in 2020, we expect the global eCommerce space to evolve in several aspects. This blog aims to capture such trends that will shape the eCommerce space in 2020.
What are those trends? Read further.
Developments in on-demand deliveries.
In 2019, eCommerce deliveries became time-sensitive. Numerous studies have proven that customers are willing to shell out extra bucks for same-day delivery or scheduled deliveries. PwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey 2018 found that over 40% of online shoppers said they would pay an additional charge for same-day delivery.
From an eCommerce business perspective, same day deliveries can result in higher sales volumes. Another allied benefit is that there will be a reduction in the need for warehouse space. Thanks to the fast-paced deliveries made possible by last-mile deliveries, online stores will need only smaller distribution centers to store stocks.
Now, how will the delivery scene change in 2020? Amazon’s Prime Air hints at a future when most deliveries could be made by drones. In fact, in an interview with CBS News, given in 2013, Jeff Bezos has hinted at the future when Amazon will deliver packages via drones. He claims that more than 86% of Amazon packages weigh less than 5 pounds. Read this fact, along with customers are willing to pay for immediate/same-day delivery, in 2020, we can expect to see more drones flying to deliver packages.
Data privacy will take center stage.
Businesses today have endless touchpoints from where they can collect and analyze user data. Web browsing cookies, mobile app usage, website behavior heatmaps, to name a few. However, reckless data collection of users could spell doom for the business. eCommerce retailers have been the infamous lot for sending too many retargeting ads and emails that infiltrate user’s data privacy.
Also, there have been umpteen cases where brands have been found to be lethargic in protecting user data. The security breaches of British Airways, Equifax, Exactis, Cathay Pacific are a few notable examples. Accordingexciting to PWC’s 2018 Digital Trust Insights, “although companies encourage consumers to entrust them with their data, only 53% include proactive management of cyber and privacy risks in their digital transformation plans.”
In 2020 and years to follow, such data privacy hindering activities will become restricted. GDPR was just a beginning to such data collection controls that hamper user’s data privacy. As data privacy takes center stage, businesses will be forced to implement new data protection measures or revamp their existing processes.
Voice shopping to gallop in volumes.
Amazon’s Echo has 10% penetration of US homes, Google’s Home, 4%, and Microsoft’s Cortana, 2% — this is the estimated market penetration of virtual assistants in US homes. Do you know what is the most obvious feature of all these virtual assistants?
Right from checking how the day’s weather is going to pan out for the day to streaming on-demand music, there is so much that these virtual assistants can go. Furthermore, they have become catalysts for eCommerce as well. The talking shop – the rise of voice commerce report by OC&C Strategy Consultants have found that by 2022, voice shopping is expected to jump to $40 billion in the US and by $5 Billion in the UK.
Modern eCommerce retailers, if they wish to stay relevant in a business landscape led by voice search, will be forced to adapt their shopping channels to voice shopping. And 2020 will see more developments in that direction.
Immersive experiences will become differentiators.
One thing that makes eCommerce enticing for online shoppers is the experience of viewing, comparing, and making their final pick from an almost endless list of options. Until now, that experience was limited to watching 2D images of products from multiple angles with zoom-in and zoom-out feature.
Luckily for eCommerce retailers, several new technologies can dish out immersive experiences that captivate users — augmented reality being one among the top of them. Augmented reality is one of the mixed reality technologies that embed digital snippets of data atop physical objects or surfaces.
In eCommerce, augmented reality has several applications, including real-time product try-ons in actual physical surroundings. Virtual mirrors for fashion shopping to cite an example. Another real-world example if that of IKEA’s mobile app. It allows users to place their choice of furniture items in actual physical surroundings.
The benefit of AR in eCommerce is twofold — first, it makes shopping enticing. Secondly, it helps reduce the volume of returns substantially. ECommerce brands that take heed in using immersive technologies will be able to differentiate themselves from the rest of the fold.
Small businesses to become a dominant force.
It is no secret that is the big enterprises that always hog the limelight with their dizzying stock prices and globe-spanning sales territories. But, there is another side to the story. Small businesses, typically floated by solopreneurs or by a small team of ambitious individuals, have been rising in number and volumes in recent years. They have fewer than 500 employees and yet have managed to penetrate markets that were earlier reserved for the bigwigs.
According to the US Small Business Administration, there are nearly 30 million small businesses in the United States, employing 47.8 percent of US workers. Also, studies byClutch.co-found that nearly Two-Thirds of Small Businesses Rely on Websites to Connect with Customers. At the beginning of 2018, almost two-thirds (64%) of small businesses have a website.
In other words, it is safe, to sum up, that small businesses are a dominant force that will gather momentum in 2020 and beyond. In addition to generating employment, they will also leverage the power of eCommerce to carve a niche for themselves in a global market.
Along with mobile shopping, digital wallets would also become mainstream.
It is no secret that mobile commerce has grown with leaps and bounds in recent years. However, there has been one catalyst feature that can be cited as the prime reason for this rapid growth of mobile commerce. It is a mobile payment facility like digital wallets. The mobile payment industry is projected to reach $4,574 billion by 2023.
There are several benefits that mobile payments and mobile wallets offer customers that make them enticing for customers.
- The convenience of not carrying a wallet or plastic card
- Quick online ordering without leaving the mobile app screen
- Loyalty points and rewards on transactions
- The facility of sending/receiving the money to contacts and most frequently used outlets
More inclination toward sustainable practices.
Greta Thunberg’s flaring speech on climate change sends ripples around the world. It was heard by businesses as well. After all, they are the biggest consumers of natural resources. Also, almost 90% of eCommerce orders being shipped in corrugated boxes, which mounts huge pressure on the rainforests.
With rising awareness about climate change, shoppers are inclining towards brands that have adopted eco-friendly practices. Top among them is eco-friendly packing. According to Nielsen, 73% of consumers say they would definitely change their consumption habits to reduce their environmental impact.
Along with eco-friendly packing, consumers are also becoming increasingly conscious about the products they use and their impact on the environment. The same Neilsen study quoted above mentions that there has been a tremendous increase in consumers who are willing to pay a premium price for organic products.
Better return policies in the cards.
The pleasure of online shopping also has a peril to it. Customers are wary of the quality, the fit, and the rightness of their choices. As a result, returns skyrocketed, hindering the profitability of online stores. Statista (gated) found that in 2018, U.S. return delivery costs were estimated to be 381 billion U.S. dollars. This figure has been steadily increasing and is predicted to reach 550 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.
Unfortunately, free shipping, as well as free returns, are something that customers want as default offerings from any online store. In the past, and even today, this has put online stores in a spot to figure out innovative ways to meet customer expectations.
There are two brands that have turned this challenge into their competitive advantage. The first is Amazon Go, which allows customers to pick up products, pay for it through their Amazon Pay app without having to wait for a second at the cash counter — because there isn’t any. Although Amazon Go is limited to groceries, we can envision a future when this lightning fast way of shopping will become mainstream.
After Amazon, it is Warby Parker that seems to have hit the sweet spot in impressing customers. Their Home Try-On facility allows users to select five frames to test out for five days — and all the five frames will be shipped to customers for free.
What’s in store for eCommerce in 2020
In the 1990s, when Amazon was in its initial stages,eCommerce development was hardly heard of. It was not even a part of the software development vocabulary. Today, it is a Trillion dollar industry that is enabling individuals to small teams to build their own online stores rich with experiences aimed to win customers.
2020 is going to be yet another year when online retailers will experiment with new strategies and tactics to woo customers and to retain them. There are solid trends that signal these oncoming strategies and tactics. From drone deliveries to better return policies and everything in between, there is so much to look forward to.
Data privacy, which was often overlooked in the previous years, will become a serious priority for all. Similarly, small businesses will also rise to the occasion to give solid competition for established players.
All said it is safe to assume that 2020 is going to be an interesting year for eCommerce retailers and consumers.


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New Bassfield company to grow medical marijuana
BASSFIELD, Miss. (WDAM) - The town of Bassfield and local economic developers are already taking advantage of Mississippi’s new law legalizing medical marijuana.
Bassfield is now home of “Divine Farma,” a new business that will grow medical marijuana and provide some much-needed new jobs.
A ribbon was cut Saturday at a the company location on Bass Burkett Road.
This building, built back in 2007, was once used to make products for horses.
Company officials plan to use about 36,000 square feet of canopy space to cultivate medical cannabis, which will be passed on to a separate cannabis processor.
The company says its facility ultimately will provide about three dozen jobs for the community.
“That’ll be organic products, clean of any pesticides, metals, contaminants that will go through a stringent process as well, going out to a testing facility, where it will be tested first,” said Damien Johnson, chief consultant for Divine Farma. “And everything here through this program has to be tracked, so there will be tracking from seed to shelf.”
The company has applied for its license from the state.
“It’s going to be a huge advantage,” Bassfield Mayor Angela Ladner. “The building has been empty for several years. This means revenue for our town and this means jobs for our town and for our community and this group will also come in and do a lot more than just own a business here.
“They want to give back to the community, which is a big plus for Bassfield.”
Ladner said she hopes the license will be approved sometime next month, and if that happens, the company could be up and running in about six weeks.
Copyright 2022 WDAM. All rights reserved.
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Don't-Miss Tablet Stories
The HP 8 is friendly on the wallet, but you definitely get what you pay for.
Tablet shipments will grow 19.3 percent in 2014 compared to last year, a signal that the rate of uptake of the devices is slowing.
Apple failed to provide enough evidence to warrant an injunction, so a judge ruled that legal damages should be sufficient.
Apple can't keep up with overall growth, but is still the biggest vendor by a large margin


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Originally Posted by ThinkPeople
next up RIMM, then, Android
Don't get too excited, for all its current flaws, the Android is here to stay, and as I predicted a long time ago when many Apple diehards are gloating, the Android phones in totality can eclipse the iPhone, and so far, has come true.
Part of this is the impact of the carrier subsidy in the smartphone business plan -- both the carrier and the phone manufacturers benefit. And Google will be the greatest beneficiary of all. The fact that Google will likely remain the major developer, it can exploit the Android for its own business plan - notwithstanding the efforts of carriers, manufacturers to put a stamp to the Android.
That the Android has proved itself to be viable, means that there is a great chance also that it shall eventually have a role to play in the tablet market. Because it is freely licensed, that is "freeby" that many mobile device manufacturers cannot ignored.
It's true too that the Android manufacturers maybe fragmented right now, but let's not forget that a number of manufacturers of Android devices have more depth than some American based mulinationals like Motorola, HP or Canadian RIM or even Nokia.
Samsung for example is the biggest company in South Korea. Once their initial attempts in other consumer markets were laughed at or considered inferior, but many of their products have now improved. Unlike many of the multinationals in the mobile devices, Samsung is more diversified and can absorbed more missed hits than the likes of the Palm, Dell or RIMM. The same can be said of those China-Taiwan techno-conglomerate manufacturers, We may dismiss their attempts now but like Samsung, some of these are big conglomerates, and their missed hits can be cushioned by their other businesses.
Whether they can really beat Apple in the tablet is another story, for as long as Apple continue to innovate and improve its ecosystem.
I am predicting that if Apple pays as much attention to the less glamorous needs of the enterprise and in big institutions where the tablet business will truly become the bulk of tablet applications will be ones it matures.
Part of this enterprise strategy may require the iPad to become a standalone mobile computer device with option to link to local servers and the cloud.
It may be true that many companies, as well as those in technology and biomedicine, are taking great interest on iOS devices. That inhouse development as well as third party Apps have helped in this goal on becoming more relevant. Eventually however, it must be Apple who must develop a more cohesive and comprehensive tools that are needed by the enterprise.
Some may not like Microsoft/Bill Gates but it was the instinct of Bill Gates on licensing and his business feel of the needs of enterprise that really made Microsoft the behemoth of its time. A strategy that continue to buffer Microsoft, even if it may had lackluster results in some of its more recent ventures.
This does not mean that Apple should license its intellectual property as Microsoft did.


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America is trying to make heartbroken "Bachelor" contestant Becca Kufrin feel better one drink at a time.
On Monday, "Bachelor Nation" watched as Arie Luyendyk Jr. popped the question to the brunette beauty. "Bachelor Nation" also watched him tell Becca a few weeks later that he was still in love the runner up of the realty show, Lauren Burnham.
So yes, Becca was dumped on national TV while wearing her engagement ring. Naturally, she was distraught.
Enter the rabid fans of "The Bachelor."
Shortly after the show aired, an eagle-eyed fan found Becca's Venmo account. Soon, fans of the show began sending Becca money via the the mobile payment app, most of them with notes telling her to use the money to buy some alcohol.
"You deserve so much better. Like a margarita🍹," one person said. Another said used a beer emoji with the note, "Next round on me." Yet another said, "Buy yourself some wine and laugh at his demise, girl."
Some even sent money for her and her dog!
"Bachelor Nation" is standing (and drinking) strong on this one.
Bottoms up, Becca.


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The mystery of Market Basket's missing website and the lone NH shopper who filled the void
Market Basket customer Doug Lyon of Milford said he's disappointed to see the shelves empty and hopes they can resolve it soon as he shopped on Monday afternoon.
LATEST NEW HAMPSHIRE ANGLE
Derry poll worker was fired for reportedly talking politics and telling voters these three words
The Hill: Would Obamacare architect laughing at stupidity of the American voter have cost Shaheen her reelection?
'Interview' buzz spreads to NH


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However, when it's all said and done, the best online gambling portals will only list reputable, safe and fair online casinos on their site. Who get's the #1 spot is contingent on many factors, and it often comes down to an online casino operators willingness to uphold demands (hopefully in the player's interest) imposed by the gambling portal. We like to consider Online Casino Suite one such type of portal. We've seen a lot of portals out there, and while there are several good one's, we can think of a whole lot more biased, bad ones.
Admittedly, when one well known UK facing online casino portal, Casino.co.uk was bought out by Cryptologic Software, we thought the portal would certainly serve as a promotional platform for Cryptlogic casinos. Guess what? We were wrong. In fact, there are more Playtech online casinos promoted here than Cryptologic brands, albeit Cryptologic's top online casino, Inter Casino, is discreetly listed in the #1 position, not to mention the fact that these Playtech brands are likely paying a pretty penny for advertising spots.
In all fairness, we can't criticize, because 1) Inter Casino is indeed an excellent online casino (read our Inter Casino Review) and 2) All of Playtech's online casinos have closed their doors to the U.S. market. They derive much of their business from the UK and European online gambling scene, and certainly need to get their faces out there. Besides, Playtech is an excellent software platform as well (Read our Playtech Software Review).
The only reason I bring all this up in the first place is because Cryptologic recently announced their earn-out agreement to acquire the portal surpassed all expectations. As a result, Cryptologic will be investing further in the portal and plans to facilitate more growth and expansion. It shall be interesting to see where this leads as more money enters the picture.


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Welcome back to yet another Monday and today, in the U.S., it is Flag Day...happy Flag Day to our friends in America. Coming up our Small Business Spotlight shines on the 1910 Sip House...a really cool story but first...the business news headlines:
More bad news out of Lordstown, Ohio;
Another mall owner flies for Chapter 11;
Wall Street is NOT the economy;
Ford is betting on...small;
Oil prices shot up again today;
The Wall Street Report;
The "quite rate" among workers is...massive.
Also, like we teased, you'll meet Karen and Jeff Lees the people behind the start-up of the 1910 Sip House. It's quite the story...and how they ended up in the Small Business Spotlight is also quite a story. To listen to that conversation, click here.


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It’s been almost two and a half decades since Greg Koch and Steve Wagner opened Stone Brewing Company just outside San Diego, offering a distinct and wildly innovative style. Craft beer was still fairly rudimentary back in 1996 but Stone quickly began changing that, pioneering the West Coast IPA and releasing the first year-round bottled Double IPA. Experimentation was essential in growing the brand, helping Stone ultimately evolve into the country’s ninth-largest brewery.
Even now, there’s always something being cooked up at Stone’s facilities in the hopes of continuing to bring abundantly flavorful and unique efforts to the masses – and it’s the task of Steve Gonzalez to discover the next style. Gonzalez, 49, is the Senior Manager of Brewing and Innovation (Small Batch) at Stone, working out of the company’s Napa location. He’s the guy behind some Stone’s most delicious beer, like Fear. Movie. Lions.
Gonzalez’s passion for beer ignited right after college while working for northern California’s Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and, after earning a master’s degree in brewing and turning down two separate job offers from Stone, he eventually joined the crew in 2012. He soon oversaw the pilot brewery, the barrel warehouse and specialty production – Research and Development. It led to the creation of more beer than Gonzalez can even remember, however a limited release right after he started spawned a massive series and proved the company’s undying devotion to freshness.
“I think for so long we said we don’t do seasonals,” Gonzalez admitted. “For a long part of Stone’s history we refused to call them seasonals and now, as a response to that, all of a sudden we have Enjoy By which is as seasonal as it gets, you know. It’s tied to a specific date.”
First brewed in 2012, the Enjoy By series was originally just one brew and it was limited, with the intent of being consumed in a quick turnaround. Double IPAs don’t typically have a long shelf life, thanks to aggressive dry-hopping, and this particular flavor profile just popped for Gonzalez and his team, thanks in part to Motueka and Nelson Sauvin hops – both found in New Zealand. Back then, these hops were new on the scene and Stone wasn’t sure that it could get enough to make a significantly sized batch of Enjoy By.
“We didn’t know if we’d ever make it again,” Gonzalez added. “It’s really something to see Greg Koch, our executive chairman, because when he’s inspired by something, he’ll come up with 20 marketing ideas right there. He’s really good at selling beer and he just fell in love with that beer.”
With one of Stone’s co-founders inspired and in love with the Enjoy By beer, the series was born, however there was a significant problem. How would the brewery ramp up the amount for a national release? Gonzalez tried changing the recipe ever so slightly and taking down the amount of those New Zealand hops but, as the brewer admits, the beer “just didn’t pop the same way.” Instead, he added other new school hops from the United States for a total of 12 hop varieties.
Each of the beers in the series are similar, checking in at 9.4 percent ABV and 90 IBUs, with Gonzalez and his crew adding subtle nuances to select batches. The most recent iteration, Enjoy By 07.04.20 was an Unfiltered IPA, offering drinkers the series-standard 37 days to get their hands on it. The hop-loaded, dry and intensely tropical beer followed a previous iteration on April 20 – better known as Weed Day – as well as special releases celebrating New Year’s Day and Halloween. But how does the beer producer decide what dates are worthy of an Enjoy By release?
“We know [Fourth of July] is a big beer drinking weekend for people and they want something special and then kind of the American flag cans just look really sharp,” he said. “We looked at doing some more obscure holidays for small releases. We were thinking about doing a Texas-only release, at one point, that was for Texas Independence Day. It never happened. I think International Cat Day was one that got thrown around for a while, like just for the fun of it. I worked on that prototype with catnip, believe it or not, in the beer – which is in the mint family.”
Prototypes are part of Gonzalez’s everyday life, constructing typically five new recipes a week for Stone’s various upcoming trials. Those recipes have also included some interesting takes for the Enjoy By series, including a gunpowder tea IPA and a chocolate and coffee IPA. The latter was created on the popularity of Mocha IPA, which was a 9.0 percent ABV IPA that had some of the faint characteristics of a Stout. But even with all the experimenting, Gonzalez knows what flavor works best for the series.
“Citrus is, for me, always kind of an easy pairing with a lot of these hop varieties. The hop varieties in Enjoy By are very citrusy anyway, so there’s a lot of synergy there. I just like citrus in all beers and the tangerine is still probably the most popular variant.”
From brainstorming to hitting store shelves takes four to eight months. Gonzalez and his crew work on a six-barrel system at the pilot brewery and, he claims, it offers about a 95 percent certainty. Sometimes ideas are spurred from gaps in the company’s portfolio and other times from popular fan feedback. Making each beer in the series conform with the same technical components for alcohol volume and bitterness isn’t too challenging, thanks to an addition of dextrose in the fermentation. Brewing typically starts two to three weeks ahead of packaging and once it’s packaged, it’s in stores the next day. That isn’t always an easy task, with the series reaching 50 states and several countries, but freshness is top priority.
It doesn’t matter if it’s California or Australia, the goal is getting it to drinkers fast.
“One of the really fun things is we want to sell it in Australia and it’s like, ‘Well it takes a long time to get our beer to Australia,’” Gonzalez chuckled. “We now air-freight it to Australia, so they can actually get it on the same day it releases in this country.”
As for what will be the next beer to grace the Enjoy By series, well Gonzalez was pretty tight-lipped on the subject, though he hinted at potentially new fruited variants as well as some recent trials to try and make a hazy effort.


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How Long a Wait for PCs, Macs with Fixed Intel Chip?
How long is the wait for new PCs and Macs packing fixed versions of Intel's latest and greatest silicon? That question has PC makers, not to mention performance junkies, on tenterhooks. Intel announced on January 31 that it had stopped shipments of the "Cougar Point" chipset that accompanies its second-generation Intel Core ("Sandy Bridge") processor owing to a flaw that can affect access to a hard-disk drive, optical drive, or other device that connects to a computer using SATA technology. Launched at this year's CES, Sandy Bridge--or "Second Generation Intel Core Processor"--is the first mainstream Intel chip to integrate


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Popular technology blogger and smartphone reviewer Mr. Mobile Michael Fisher has listed the newly released CAMON 19 Pro Mondrian edition among his Top 3 interesting phone for 2022 on his YouTube channel.
The YouTuber takes stock of interesting mobile phones released in the first half of 2022, including TECNO CAMON 19 Pro Mondrian, Nothing Phone (1) and ROG Phone 6 Pro.
In the video, Michael showed the magical color-changing effect of the CAMON 19 Mondrian model when placed under a direct sun light.
It could be recalled that recently TECNO and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston have joined to bring the unique vision of Piet Mondrian – the Dutch pioneer of abstract art best known for his bold and colorful block paintings – to a new format that is accessible to consumers in a way not previously explored which gave birth to the Mondarian edition.


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Several forums over the internet have been reporting about the God Mode Glitch, which, apparently makes People immune to Damage and their cars become indestructible.
Complaints have also been posted on the Rockstar forum about the problem in GTA Online. One of the players mentioned the he shot someone in the head with a sniper rifle to no effect:
“Just shoot a guy with sniper two perfect headshots and he took no damage not so ever, And no he was not in passive or about to join a job, cos seconds later he shot me. Another guy took an rpg right in the kisser, oh no damage.”
Along with immunity to damage player are reporting that some vehicles have also become indestructible, A player Adds: “ encountered a number of players that couldn’t be killed while their cars never explode”.
Rockstar has started Banning users of the game who were allegedly using this glitch to their advantage. Players are claiming that the glitch popped its head a few weeks ago and is very easy to do.
Apparently, the Developer has done nothing concrete yet, besides banning players who use this glitch. Let’s that a permanent solution will be devised soon.
Grand Theft Auto Online was released last year on PS3 and Xbox 360, with a release for the next gen version of the game now confirmed, one can only hope that rockstar fixes these issues with their heavily popular game before it comes out.
What are you’re thoughts on this GTA Online God Mode Glitch? How has it affected your experience in the game? Share you’re views in the comments below.


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JANUARY 26, 2014
A lot of this week’s News Update will focus on the Muppets’ upcoming Super Bowl commercial for Toyota. The Muppets are co-starring in the spot with actor Terry Crews. To promote the ad, Access Hollywood visited Terry and the Muppets on their first day of shooting. The video is below, and it features lots of Zoot and Floyd!
Another making-of video was posted on YouTube by Toyota themselves. This one features an extended listen to the brand new song in the commercial, performed by Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Janice, and Animal. Could this be our first brand new Electric Mayhem song since 1990? The video also stars Terry Crews’ pecs, which seemingly have minds of their own. Animal stars in the Vine video for Toyota, getting excited about the trunk space of the new Toyota Highlander. Miss Piggy, ever the renaissance woman, has now expanded into the world of newspaper contribution. In February’s Wall Street Journal Magazine, Miss Piggy has written a short column on love. And she even got her own, beautiful Wall Street Journal illustrated portrait. Read the column here and admire the portrait below!
As we’ve reported in the past, the Syfy Network is developing a brand new reality competition show themed around Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Contestants in the show will design and create their own incredible creatures to be judged by the all-star panel, which includes Brian Henson. Syfy has released a teaser for the show, which you can watch right here! Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge premieres on Syfy on March 25th at 10:00pm/9:00pm central time.
Finally, our friend Tim Shields has alerted us to yet another Disney Store exclusive piece of Muppets Most Wanted merchandise. A brand new, much improved Miss Piggy plush is now available at certain Disney Stores, soon to be available at all Disney Stores. Check out the photo below. Thanks Tim!
The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, firstname.lastname@example.org


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The German based automaker Porsche is planning to develop a 50th Anniversary Edition of the 911 model, which will make its public debut next year during the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show.
Porsche is currently trying to keep the new anniversary edition into the shadows for the moment officially speaking but in a recent interview, with motoring.com.au, the company’s 911 product line director has said an interesting thing.
“We did not forget this (the 50th anniversary)… there is something prepared, something special”, as he told the source mentioned above. “What it is you will have to wait and see”, he added.
Besides not forgetting the golden anniversary of the iconic Porsche 911, the German based automaker is also planning to unveil a variety of new 911 variants which will most likely include the Turbo grand tourer, the track focused GT3, the glass roof Targa or even the insane GT2 but, just like with the 911 50th Anniversary Edition, the carmaker is trying to keep them a secret for the moment. Unfortunately we don’t have any more details on the upcoming Porsche 911 in its gold edition or on the new variety of 911 models, but the sports car will be officially presented to the public at the 2012 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, 2013.


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New program includes degrees and licensing for opticians, certificate courses in project management, data analytics
Walmart has launched in Canada an education program that has been a big success in the United States.
Through the Live Better U (LBU) education program, Walmart Canada is investing $50 million over the next five years to send associates to top-tier schools across Canada.
The investment will cover the cost of tuition, books, and course fees for workers.
"We believe there is a path for everyone at Walmart and we want to remove barriers to high quality education," says AnnMarie Mercer, chief people officer, Walmart Canada.
"We're proud that through LBU, we're offering our associates a program designed with them in mind. LBU meets associates where they are on their educational journey by offering online, flexible programs to help them balance work, life and school."
Just 50 per cent of workers who struggle to pay bills are actively seeking out opportunities to develop new skills, compared to 62 per cent of those who can pay their bills comfortably, reports PwC Management Services.
Employee offerings based on ‘future needs of business'
Offerings under the LBU program were “curated based on the new and future needs of the business,” said Walmart Canada.
These offerings include:
- Growth accelerators, such as English as a Second Language, French as a Second Language and GED courses;
- In-demand courses and certificates, such as project management, data analytics, omni retail, ecommerce, business communications and strategy; and
- Degrees and licensing for pharmacy technicians and opticians, with more to come.
With this program, Walmart Canada hopes workers will be “trained and equipped with the skills of the future” so they stay and grow with the company, it says.
The launch of the LBU program builds on the success of the same program at Walmart in the US.
"LBU has been a game-changer in the U.S. these past five years, and we're thrilled to expand our footprint and offer this life-changing benefit to even more Walmart associates," says Lorraine Stomski, SVP, Associate Learning & Leadership, Walmart Global. "Our participants are more likely to be promoted and less likely to leave the company than their peers, meaning it helps our people and our business.”
So far, nearly 120,000 Walmart U.S. associates have taken advantage of the program, she says, helping them build “a brighter future and better life”.
“We can't wait to see that impact continue to grow with this expansion,” says Stomski.
In March, Amazon announced it is expanding its slate of language programs globally under its Career Choice program, offering English-language classes in the 13 non-U.S. countries the program operates, as well as local language classes in some countries.
Investment in education benefits will ‘pay dividends’
One business leader commended Walmart Canada for the launch of LBU in the country.
“Well done Team Walmart Canada. This will pay dividends long term for your associates, local communities and all communities across Canada,” says Jim Green, a retired regional business banking development manager at Scotiabank, via LinkedIn.
And one Walmart Canada says he has already committed to learning through the program.
“Extremely excited for this! I am a co-manager for Walmart Canada and I signed up today to learn French as a second language! Already got my confirmation email for my course,” says Isaac Guthrie, on the same LinkedIn thread “Super excited!”
Here’s how to create a winning learning and development strategy, according to one expert.


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- April 24, 2013
SADDLE BROOK, NJ | Unilux has won the C2 Converting Innovation Award 2013 for the development of its LED2000-Series LED stroboscopic inspection lights. The award was presented at the recent ICE USA 2013, April 9–11, in Orlando, FL.
The new series of LED strobe lights combines the power of traditional xenon-powered strobe lights with the operating benefits of LED lighting and is said to have more adjustment capabilities for more effective inspection at full production speeds.
“Developing our new LED strobe lights was a team effort in every sense,” says Mike Simonis, president of Unilux. “Our customers and sales staff provided great feedback at every step of our design process to tell our engineering and software team what they needed to create an indispensable inspection tool. Winning the C2 Converting Innovation Award demonstrates how good things can happen when companies and their customers keep their lines of communication open.”
Unilux completely re-engineered the concept of LED-based stroboscopic surface inspection lights with the creation of the LED2000-Series. The new lights are five times brighter than the company’s first generation of LED strobes, giving the same lighting performance as the company’s proven xenon-based lights. They operate on only 25% to 35% of the power consumption of company’s Lith-O-Light strobes, are about one-third the size of their traditional equivalents, and are lighter while reportedly replicating their power and increasing the flash-rate range.


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UPDATE: TeamFanShop issued a statement Monday morning apologizing for accidentally using Alabama images instead of LSU images on the LSU shopping website. It was an honest, albeit untimely, mistake by the website provider. It's too bad, this would have been a nice little prank from Alabama supporters.
** Original post **
The BCS national championship isn't until Jan. 9, but the games between the supporters of rivals LSU and Alabama have already begun.
Late Sunday evening, about five hours after the national championship pairing was officially announced, someone hacked into the LSU fan shop website and replaced all of the LSU clothing options with Alabama clothing. Though Doc is also hearing grumblings that this was an honest mistake from the company that runs the site.
In either case, ah, SEC rivalries.
Earlier this year, a purple cape was draped across the statue of Alabama coach Nick Saban outside Bryant-Denny Stadium in the weeks leading up to the first showdown between these twoRead More »from Alabama fans land first national championship jab in LSU’s online shop *UPDATED*


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Krispy Kreme is offering Pokémon-themed doughnuts designed after Pikachu, Squirtle, and a Poké Ball for hungry Trainers in South Korea.
The price per donut varies depending on which one you choose. The Poké Ball, which happens to be the current favorite, costs 1,800 won ($1.60), Squirtle costs 2,000 won ($1.80), and Pikachu goes for 2,500 won ($2.25).
Alternatively, a “Pokémon Dozen,” priced at 15,000 won, will set Trainers back about $13.50. It includes six Pokémon-themed donuts (2 per design) and six of Krispy Kreme’s signature glazed donuts.
The “Pokémon X Krispy Kreme” promotion recognizes the 20th anniversary of Pokémon through October 2016. It’s unclear if the Pokémon doughnuts will make a wild appearance for fans in the West. Nintendo News contacted Krispy Kreme for more information.
Gotta eat ’em all, right?
“Pokémon X Krispy Kreme” Doughnuts


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Good news this morning for anyone who ordered a Pebble smartwatch, the companion iOS app is now available for download. The news comes just a day after the company announced that it had started shipping its first round of watches.
The app is needed to unlock much of the Pebble’s functionality, and as of yesterday, it wasn’t in the App Store. And there was some concern that customers would get their watches, after months of waiting, and not really be able use them…
But luckily, that’s not the case. After two weeks of review time, Apple finally approved the application and it hit the App Store late last night. The software allows you to add new customized watchfaces to your Pebble, and update its firmware.
Here’s the list of features from its App Store description:
The Pebble app provides a dashboard for your Pebble smartwatch:
– Notifies you when software updates for Pebble ready to install
– Installs and remove custom watchfaces onto your Pebble
– Sends ping test messages to your Pebble
– Helps you troubleshoot issues
The app doesn’t look like much now, but the folks at Pebble have big plans for it. You’ll eventually be able to install new apps to the watch—and there should be a broad selection thanks to the available SDK—and add support for other iOS apps.
The Pebble is by far one of the most recognizable competitors in the growing smartwatch space. It first started turning heads when its Kickstarter project shattered previous funding records, collecting over $10 million in pledges from backers.
If you’d like to learn more about the watch, you can read our full feature on it here. If you’re interested in ordering one— they run $149.99—you can do that here. And if you already have one on the way, you can download the app by clicking here.


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In its newly released 2020 Best Practices Report, The U.S. Conference of Mayors highlighted Dollar General’s role in helping to increase fresh produce and access to healthier food in Baton Rouge as an example of an innovative public-private partnership addressing an economic challenge communities across the country are facing.
Specifically, the report—produced annually by the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Business Council—detailed how Dollar General partnered with Mayor Sharon Weston Broome to bring healthier food options to two remodeled stores in communities without a nearby grocery store.
Dollar General’s curated assortment provides fresh fruits and vegetables including lettuce, tomatoes, onions, apples, strawberries, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lemons, limes, salad mixes and more. The produce set offers the top 20 items typically sold in traditional grocery stores and covers approximately 80% of produce categories most stores carry.
Additionally, the report mentions how the chain was able to partner with the American Heart


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By John Liu, The China Post
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan exports expanded 3.6 percent in August year-on-year to US$25.64 billion, while imports declined 1.2 percent to US$21.06 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of US$4.59 billion, according to figures released by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) yesterday. Among export products, electronic product exports amounted to US$7.66 billion, up 6.5 percent year-on-year. It is the sixth consecutive month that exports of electronic products have exceeded US$7.1 billion, according to the MOF’s Statistics Department. Exports of chemical products amounted to US$1.86 billion, up 25.2 percent year-on-year. It was also the third consecutive month of growth. Exports of plastics and rubber products in August amounted to US$2.1 billion, up 8 percent year-on-year, which was the fourth consecutive month of growth. Exports of mineral products, and optical and photographic instruments, however, declined 13.8 percent and 5.4 percent year-on-year respectively.
Exports between January and August totaled US$201.39 billion, up 2.5 percent compared with a year ago.
Electronic products and mineral products have seen the highest growth, followed by electrical machinery products and optical and photographic instruments.
Exports of machineries and basic metal and related products, however, declined during the same period. Imports Figures Imports in August dipped 1.2 percent year-on-year. Among import products, capital equipments amounted to US$2.73 billion, a 7.7-percent drop year-on-year. This reflects slowing investment in the semiconductor industry in July and August, according to MOF Statistics Department Director Yeh Maan-tzwu (葉滿足). Imports of mineral products in August rose 15.4 percent year-on-year, while electronic products, chemical products, basic metal and related products, and machineries decreased 0.3 percent, 2.2 percent, 14.8 percent and 15.5 percent, respectively. From January to August, imports of mineral products, electronic products, chemical products, and basic metal and related products declined 0.9 percent, 0.9 percent, 0.3 percent, 0.8 percent, 7.7 percent, respectively. Imports of machineries grew 0.6 percent. Major Trade Partners Compared with a year ago, exports in August to mainland China and Hong Kong, the U.S., Europe and ASEAN-6 rose by 2.9 percent, 0.9 percent, 4 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, while exports to Japan declined 0.1 percent.
Between January and August, exports to major Asian markets continued to grow, while demand in the European and the U.S. markets have shown signs of improvement, according to the Statistics Department.
Exports to Europe have grown for three consecutive months. For the January-August period, exports to Asian countries rose 4.4 percent, while exports to the U.S. and European markets declined 0.8 percent and 5.6 percent respectively. The Statistics Department said that the global economy is on a recovery track, with China’s extended national holiday in October and western countries’ shopping season coming soon, exports are expected to grow in the near future. However, economic growth in emerging countries has slowed, the MOF added.


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"But having achieved strong political relations, Nigeria and Indonesia are now concentrating on the economic and trade sectors," he said here Tuesday.
Ambassador Sulaiman made the remarks when he met members of the Indonesian Muslim Journalists Association (PJMI) and university students in relation with the Ramadhan Dialogue Series with some African ambassadors to Indonesia.
The series are held by PJMI in collaboration with the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) Indonesia, State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatulloh.
Ms Dewi Kejora from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DR. Arisman, Director Executive of CSEAS, and Mohammad Anthoni, the chairman of PJMI also attended the dialogue titled "Current Economic and Social Development in Africa".
Nigeria and Indonesia have been enjoying cordial relations since 1965 when Indonesia established its diplomatic mission in Lagos and Nigeria reciprocated by opening its embassy in Jakarta in 1976.
The two countries have also been cooperating both at bilateral and multilateral levels and supporting each others nominations at positions at various international organizations. In addition to their membership of United Nations, Nigeria and Indonesia are members of the D-8, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey).
"The prospect for economic and trade relations between Nigeria and Indonesia is very good especially since the two countries have the commitment, zeal and determination to make it so," he said.
The volume of trade between the two countries increased from US$2.09 billion in 2011 to US$3.18 billion in 2012.
Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and one of the emerging market economies of the world. The country is also a member of G-20 major economies and classified as a newly industrialized country. As a result of the boost in its economy, Indonesia has been exploring other regions in the world to invest. Africa and Nigeria in particular is one of those places.
Nigerias economy has been growing more than 6 percent and is the 26th largest in the world. After the recent re-basing of its GDP, Nigeria currently has the largest GDP of about $510 billion in Africa.
Ambassador Sulaiman said Nigeria is the gateway to West Africa and its capital, Abuja, is host of the sub-regions organization, the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS).
Being the gateway to West Africa, companies operating in Nigeria have the benefit of expanding their businesses and reaching their customers to the whole West Africa and beyond, he said.
Investment from Indonesia
"It is therefore not surprising that Nigeria has become a destination for investment from Indonesia, with around 11 local firms like Indorama, Indofood, Wings, Mensa Group, Tolarama and Kalbe," he added.
They have invested in the food and beverage, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, detergent and soap.
"It is interesting to note that the largest Indomie factory in the world is located in Nigeria, not in Indonesia where it originated from," Ambassador Sulaiman said.
"In fact, Indomie is so popular in Nigeria that is gradually replacing our local food."
According to him, the largest Indomie factory is located in Nigeria is a testimony to the positive prospect for Indonesia-Nigeria economic and trade relations.
Although there is no Nigerian company currently operating in Indonesia, some of its airlines namely Max Air, Kabo Air, Hak Air and Silverback Africa have been servicing their aircrafts in Indonesia under maintenance agreement with Garuda.
"The fact that Garuda services some of our aircrafts is a testimony to the confidence Nigeria has in its professional capacity, for it is not everyone you will allow to service your aircraft because of the risks involved," he said.
He further said that as leading economies in their continents, Nigeria and Indonesia are expected to play a leading role in seeking solutions to the economic challenges of their sub-regions and continents.
"Our two countries therefore need to work together and complement each other, to push an agenda which puts bilateral as well as regional integration and infrastructural development at the forefront," he said.
"The embassy will continue to encourage the Nigerian private sector to invest in the Indonesian market and vice versa in order to promote bilateral and inter-continental trade. We have put in place measures in support of trade by Indonesian companies wishing to export their products to Nigeria." (*)